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Canada’s fastest man De Grasse getting back up to speed

While his rivals ran at a Diamond League track meet in Rome, Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse dropped in on a high school track meet at York University to sign autographs, do interviews and unveil his new charitable foundation.

De Grasse’s advisers chose the perfect place to publicize his latest off-the-track initiative. Six years ago he arrived at that very track after joining his school’s team on a whim, then laid down a 10.9-second 100 metres in his first ever race. His foundation aims to help promising teenage runners defray the cost of high-level track and field.

Canada’s fastest man, Andre De Grasse, gets a high-five from 6-year-old Jaxon Bella-Long at Thursday’s launch of the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation at York University. (Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star)

But his presence in Toronto, greeting fans and media while American Ronnie Baker ran 9.93 to win in Rome, reflects a 2018 season still under construction for the fastest Canadian sprinter of his generation. The hamstring injury that forced him out of the 2017 world championships didn’t just deprive him of a final showdown with retiring sprint king Usain Bolt. It dominated his off-season, delayed pre-season training and sent him into competition this spring chasing fitness instead of more Canadian records.

Above all, the setback has forced the 23-year-old Markham native to practise patience.

“It kind of showed in my last couple of races that it’s still going to take some time,” said De Grasse, who won three medals at the 2016 Olympics. “It’s still going to take some time, but I know I’m not that far off … Mentally, I know I’m there. Physically I’ve just got to get my body to get to that point.”

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Six weeks ahead of national championships, De Grasse, Canada’s top-ranked sprinter for three straight seasons, isn’t ranked among the top three Canadians in either of his events.

He ran 20.46 seconds in his 200-metre season opener, which puts him fourth in Canada and 0.39 seconds behind early-season leader Aaron Brown. Over 100 metres De Grasse has run 10.15, with veteran Gavin Smellie’s 10.01 leading all Canadians.

In his most recent race, De Grasse laboured to an eighth-place finish over 100 at a Diamond League event in Shanghai, his familiar mid-race surge absent as he crossed the line in 10.25 seconds.

His 9.91-second personal best over 100 metres makes him the third-fastest Canadian in history, while he holds the national record with 19.80 seconds over 200.

His coaches say the missing top-end speed isn’t a mystery, but a matter of fitness and fine-tuning. Long-time coach Tony Sharpe, who oversees De Grasse’s training while in Toronto, says the late start to pre-season base training has left the sprinter a few weeks behind his peers.

For now.

“Hopefully now his mindset is that: ‘My body is good (and) I’m going to go out and perform,’” Sharpe said. “I think he’s there mentally.”

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For many elite performers a year like 2018, with neither a world championships nor Olympic Games, represents a chance to try new events or training regimens with an eye on long-term success. Decathlon world record-holder Ashton Eaton took a break from the event in 2014, competing in the 400-metre hurdles instead. This summer, triple jump star Christian Taylor is also running the 400.

But this summer, De Grasse doesn’t have that flexibility. His late start to the season means he’s regaining fitness instead of building on it, and a busy domestic competition schedule will keep him visible to a Canadian sports public used to seeing De Grasse at his best.

Beyond the nationals in Ottawa, De Grasse is scheduled to headline the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships (NACAC) in Toronto in August. Posters for the event feature the silhouette of a sprinter whose resemblance to De Grasse isn’t coincidental. In mid-June, he’ll appear at an event at Nathan Phillips Square promoting the meet, another hint organizers hope to trade on his fame to sell tickets.

Meanwhile, a Gatorade commercial starring De Grasse remains in heavy rotation during sports shows, a reminder that he’s still building his off-the-track portfolio and personal brand.

“It’s communicating who he is as a person, and making sure that his brand isn’t tied up in how fast he ran yesterday,” said Brian Levine, De Grasse’s marketing agent. “He’s more than just 9.91 or 19.80. Whatever that number is, he’s a person.”

For his part, De Grasse hopes to navigate a disjointed on-track schedule and wrest more Canadian records from this season. The timing of the nationals will keep him away from the Diamond League — pro track’s elite circuit — until July. Late that month he’s scheduled to race in London against a field scheduled to include Baker and world indoor champ Christian Coleman, who ran 6.34 seconds to break the 60-metre world record.

Beyond London looms NACAC, the biggest competition in Canada since the 2015 Pan Am Games and a meet De Grasse will treat like a major championship.

“It’s my home base, Toronto. Obviously I want to put on a show,” he said. “It’s definitely more important than the Diamond League for me.”

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